---
title: «continents moving?? yeah right, it'd be like an earthquake every da… — How old is it? Rock layers, rock clock… · tree and pragmatics
description: «continents moving?? yeah right, it'd be like an earthquake every day» What is right? Test 11 · ★ of lesson 276 «How old is it? Rock layers, rock clocks, amber and the long story of life» of the biology course of Mova's primary school, with the dependency tree and pragmatics of the question and of e
---

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# Test 11 · ★ · How old is it? Rock layers, rock clocks, amber and the lon…

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
«continents moving?? yeah right, it'd be like an earthquake every day» What is right?

<!-- .vintro -->
**Mova's choice:** option 2 · **The right answer:** option 2 · right ✓ · **Who acts:** continents, it, earthquake · **What happens:** move, be · **Speech:** someone speaks here

<!-- .vabout -->
This is test 11 · ★ of lesson 276 «How old is it? Rock layers, rock clocks, amber and the long story of life» of the biology course of Mova's primary school. The page gives the question's syntax tree — a dependency tree in the style of Universal Dependencies — and its pragmatics clause by clause, then the 4 options as the student saw them, each with its tree and pragmatics. Every text is parsed by Mova itself. How the student answered it, with the score of every option and why: [the test at school](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/school-run/biology/276-how-old-is-it-rock-layers-rock-clocks-amber-and-the-long-story-of-life/#t11).

## The question {#question}

```conllu
# sent_id = question:biology:276-how-old-is-it-rock-layers-rock-clocks-amber-and-the-long-story-of-life:t11:1
# text = «continents moving?? yeah right, it'd be like an earthquake every day» What is right?
1	«	«	PUNCT	``	_	3	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
2	continents	continent	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	3	nsubj	_	_
3	moving	move	VERB	VBG	Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Part	0	root	_	SpaceAfter=No
4	??	??	PUNCT	.	_	3	punct	_	_
5	yeah	yeah	INTJ	UH	_	3	discourse	_	_
6	right	right	INTJ	UH	_	3	discourse	_	SpaceAfter=No
7	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	13	punct	_	_
8	it	it	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	13	nsubj	_	SpaceAfter=No
9	'd	would	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	13	aux	_	_
10	be	be	AUX	VB	VerbForm=Inf	13	cop	_	_
11	like	like	ADP	IN	_	13	case	_	_
12	an	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	13	det	_	_
13	earthquake	earthquake	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	3	parataxis	_	_
14	every	every	DET	DT	PronType=Tot	15	det	_	_
15	day	day	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	13	obl:unmarked	_	SpaceAfter=No
16	»	»	PUNCT	''	_	13	punct	_	_
17	What	what	PRON	WP	PronType=Int	19	nsubj	_	_
18	is	be	AUX	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	19	cop	_	_
19	right	right	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	13	parataxis	_	SpaceAfter=No
20	?	?	PUNCT	.	_	3	punct	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **move** *in a quote* | gerund | continents |  |  |  |  |  | vn roll-51.3.1 «NP.theme V»: agent=Theme |
| 2 | **is** *in a quote* | would | it |  |  |  | day | like a earthquake | tree rules |
| 3 | **is** | present | a earthquake |  |  |  |  | right *property* | tree rules |

<!-- .note -->
One row per clause the reader finds. «not said here»: a role filled from the clause above. «roles by»: a VerbNet class and frame when one fits the verb, else the reader's rules on the tree.

## The options {#options}

### Option 1 {#o1}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
They move a metre every day

```conllu
# sent_id = question:biology:276-how-old-is-it-rock-layers-rock-clocks-amber-and-the-long-story-of-life:t11:o1:1
# text = They move a metre every day
1	They	they	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs	2	nsubj	_	_
2	move	move	VERB	VBP	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
3	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	4	det	_	_
4	metre	metre	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	2	obj	_	_
5	every	every	DET	DT	PronType=Tot	6	det	_	_
6	day	day	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	2	obl:unmarked	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **move** | present | They | a metre |  |  | day |  | vn roll-51.3.1 «NP V NP.theme»: agent=Agent metre=Theme |

### Option 2 · ← Mova's choice · ✓ the right answer {#o2}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
They really move, but only a few centimetres a year, too slowly to feel

<!-- fold The tree, 14 words -->
```conllu
# sent_id = question:biology:276-how-old-is-it-rock-layers-rock-clocks-amber-and-the-long-story-of-life:t11:o2:1
# text = They really move, but only a few centimetres a year, too slowly to feel
1	They	they	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs	3	nsubj	_	_
2	really	really	ADV	RB	_	3	advmod	_	_
3	move	move	VERB	VBP	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	SpaceAfter=No
4	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	9	punct	_	_
5	but	but	CCONJ	CC	_	9	cc	_	_
6	only	only	ADV	RB	_	9	advmod	_	_
7	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	9	det	_	_
8	few	few	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	9	amod	_	_
9	centimetres	centimetre	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	3	obj	_	_
10	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	11	det	_	_
11	year	year	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	3	obl:unmarked	_	SpaceAfter=No
12	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	14	punct	_	_
13	too	too	ADV	RB	_	14	advmod	_	_
14	slowly	slowly	ADV	RB	_	3	advmod	_	_
15	to	to	PART	TO	_	16	mark	_	_
16	feel	feel	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	14	advcl	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **move** | present | They | a few centimetres |  |  | year | slowly *property* | vn roll-51.3.1 «NP V NP.theme»: agent=Agent centimetre=Theme |
| 2 | **feel** | to-infinitive | They *not said here* |  |  |  |  |  | vn stimulus\_subject-30.4 «NP V PP.attribute»: agent=Stimulus |

### Option 3 {#o3}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
They do not move at all; the maps are only drawn a bit differently each year

<!-- fold The tree, 16 words -->
```conllu
# sent_id = question:biology:276-how-old-is-it-rock-layers-rock-clocks-amber-and-the-long-story-of-life:t11:o3:1
# text = They do not move at all; the maps are only drawn a bit differently each year
1	They	they	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs	4	nsubj	_	_
2	do	do	AUX	VBP	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	4	aux	_	_
3	not	not	PART	RB	Polarity=Neg	4	advmod	_	_
4	move	move	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	0	root	_	_
5	at	at	ADP	IN	_	6	case	_	_
6	all	all	DET	DT	PronType=Tot	4	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
7	;	;	PUNCT	:	_	12	punct	_	_
8	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	9	det	_	_
9	maps	map	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	12	nsubj:pass	_	_
10	are	be	AUX	VBP	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	12	aux:pass	_	_
11	only	only	ADV	RB	_	12	advmod	_	_
12	drawn	draw	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	4	advcl	_	_
13	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	14	det	_	_
14	bit	bit	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	12	obl:unmarked	_	_
15	differently	differently	ADV	RB	_	12	advmod	_	_
16	each	each	DET	DT	PronType=Tot	17	det	_	_
17	year	year	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	4	obl:unmarked	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **not** **move** | present · do-support | They |  |  | all | year |  | vn roll-51.3.1 «NP V PP.trajectory»: agent=Theme at all=Trajectory |
| 2 | **draw** | present · passive |  | the maps |  |  |  | a bit *obl:unmarked*; differently *property* | vn scribble-25.2-1 «NP V NP»: subject=Theme |

### Option 4 {#o4}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
They only move during storms

```conllu
# sent_id = question:biology:276-how-old-is-it-rock-layers-rock-clocks-amber-and-the-long-story-of-life:t11:o4:1
# text = They only move during storms
1	They	they	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs	3	nsubj	_	_
2	only	only	ADV	RB	_	3	advmod	_	_
3	move	move	VERB	VBP	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
4	during	during	ADP	IN	_	5	case	_	_
5	storms	storm	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	3	obl	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **move** | present | They |  |  |  | during storms |  | vn roll-51.3.1 «NP.theme V»: agent=Theme |

<!-- div src -->

**Text:** the tests of Mova's primary school, written for Mova (`world/data/school/`), as the course runner gave them to the student. **Trees:** Mova's own parse — the `en` model on the CPU, when the site is built — not checked by a teacher; they may be wrong. **Frames:** Mova's frames reader (`prag`), each text read on its own. Elamur Cosmic License.

<!-- /div -->

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